The third world war
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Third World War. The Third World War |
 | |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Stone |
| script |
Ingo Helm , Robert Stone |
| production | Ulrich Lenze |
| music |
John Kusiak , Caleb Sampson |
| camera | Matthias Haedecke |
| occupation | |
| |
The Third World War is the title of a fictional ZDF documentary from 1998 under the direction of Guido Knopp . The fictional scenario begins with Mikhail Gorbachev's disempowerment by the Red Army after his visit to Erich Honecker in October 1989 . The violent suppression of uprisings in Eastern Europe, a renewed blockade of West Berlin and a conventional dispute between NATO and the Warsaw Pact on German territory developed into a global nuclear war. The German-American co-production is based on the crisis plans of NATO and the Warsaw Pact at the time. At the beginning and the end of the documentation it is pointed out that it is a fiction.
action
When, at the end of 1989, as part of the Gorbachev reforms , there were civil protests in the GDR and other Warsaw Pact states, the military seized power in Moscow and made Gorbachev disappear. The new man, General Soshkin, is a hardliner who relentlessly has riots beaten down throughout the Eastern Bloc. He sees the blame for the unrest in the West, which is emphatically calling for the democracy movements to run their course.
When West German demonstrators occupied the wall , the situation escalated. East German border guards shoot indiscriminately into the crowd and over the wall to the west and kill 23 people, including a western cameraman while the camera is running. As a result, the GDR prevented domestic German travel and telephone traffic and lifted all visas for journalists; there is a new Berlin blockade . When a Soviet general fell victim to a bomb attack by German neo-Nazis during secret negotiations in West Berlin, Soshkin called for a "satisfactory solution" to the Berlin question. Mistrust, a chain of unfortunate circumstances, verbal exchanges of blows and strategic considerations lead to the situation escalating. A little later, West Berlin, as the alleged gateway for destabilizing forces, is completely cordoned off by Soviet troops - Soshkin begins the comprehensive "Operation Thunderbolt".
For its part, NATO wants to counter the massive troop presence with reinforced units. Great Britain is mobilizing and relocating troops and materials to Germany. When an American ship convoy set off for Europe, Soschkin imposed a restricted zone in the North Atlantic. In a large-scale naval battle, NATO breaks the blockade and brings its troops to Europe. One last attempt at negotiation fails.
In the Federal Republic the state of defense is decided. The Warsaw Pact carried out a landing operation on the Baltic coast of Schleswig-Holstein and carried out a massive attack in the Fulda area , which was initially advancing quickly due to conventional superiority, accompanied by extensive air strikes. However, in Operation Bloody Nose, NATO destroys an important command center and thus gains air sovereignty. Uprisings in Poland are hindering the Warsaw Pact's replenishment, and many of its armored forces are down due to technical deficiencies. NATO troops then advance to West Berlin and liberate the city. There are numerous uprisings in the Soviet Union. While the majority of NATO countries want to end the advance in Berlin, the German government is pushing for an advance to the Polish border in order to liberate the rest of the GDR.
Soshkin is not ready to give up and detonates an atom bomb over the North Sea as a threatening gesture, which sets the corresponding American preparation and alarm plans in motion. After reports from the KGB about a possible American first strike and false alarms from their own air defense systems, Soshkin finally orders the launch of ICBMs, triggering a comprehensive American counter-attack. At the end it is pointed out that the war brought about the destruction of the earth and with it the end of human civilization .
The details of the escalation and the war are speculative, but the data used in this simulation game is factual. Precise insights into the strategic and tactical drawer plans for the “hot war” between NATO and the Warsaw Pact provided the opportunity to construct a hypothetical war from them.
Presentation methods
The whole film is designed in the style of a Guido Knopp history documentation with alleged contemporary witness reports and alleged original recordings.
In some cases, historical recordings are used in a different context and mixed up with posed interviews and images in order to show a realistic development of events up to the war and beyond that to the use of nuclear weapons . For example, statements by George Bush and Helmut Kohl are used as if the Western heads of state and government condemned a successful coup against Gorbachev in 1989 , while the footage is actually from 1991 . In this way, the viewer is made plausible that the processes could have been real. In order to deepen the impression, well-known ZDF journalists also play. They can be seen again in their former functions and become crisis reporters as correspondents in this cinematic simulation . Archive pictures of politicians from the time of the fall of the wall can also be seen. The only fictional character among the main actors is Vladimir Soschkin, who as Gorbachev's "successor" embodied the possible alternative of a hardliner in the Kremlin at that time. The recordings that show the alleged combat actions come mainly from film productions of major NATO and Warsaw Pact maneuvers. Some excerpts - especially those showing naval battles - come from real combat acts, such as B. from the Falklands War 1982.
Both in the German and in the English version of the film, in addition to shots by East Berlin border troops over the wall to the west, the name of the cameraman Matthias Haedecke who was killed there is mentioned in western news . He is also listed as a cameraman in the credits.
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